In response to a question about whether the PCC was redundant, Puttnam said he thought that the system of press self regulation should be scrapped if newspapers do not "improve their behaviour within a year". "I'd give it a year," he added.

Puttnam said that the PCC in its current form was a "snakepit", which has proved "impossible" to change. He added that fellow peer Baroness Peta Buscombe had taken up the position of chair of the PCC with the intention of reducing the number of deviations from its code of conduct, but that under the current setup there was a reluctance to change.

When contacted today by MediaGuardian.co.uk to expand on his comments last night, Puttnam replied: "I believe the PCC does a pretty good job of handling individual complaints from those who feel themselves to have been in some way traduced.

"What they cannot do is prevent the slow reduction of politics to a form of gruesome spectator sport. Nor can they ensure the general representation of young people is more representative of reality.

"I believe they should be given a year to address these issues and if they find it impossible then the type of regulation Ofcom imposes on television would seem to become appropriate, and probably inevitable. The national press at that point will only have themselves to blame.

"As to Baroness Buscombe, she is a very decent woman who I believe sincerely understands these issues but has not been given the firepower to do very much about changing what is an ingrained bullying attitude on the part of those who ultimately pay her salary."

During last night's talk, Puttnam stressed that politicians had to be brave and face up to the need for a drastic change in the regulation of newspapers. An eagerness to stay on-side with the press had left parliament and the media in "a battleground of the lowest common denominator", he told the gathering, adding that he was in no doubt that this relationship had influenced tough policy decisions.

Earlier, in his lecture at the House of Lords, he said: "What we are dealing with here are parallel inadequacies, those of what, for convenience, I'll call 'parliament', and those of an ever more competitive communications industry.

"Between them they have managed to construct a battlefield upon which the big losers are truth, illumination and common sense; the very things we most need if we are to understand and make sense of this increasingly dangerous and complex world of ours."

"For their part politicians and the civil servants who support them feel trapped in the malevolent glare of a media culture whose primary purpose is to undermine rather than underpin public confidence. The national – or is it international – obsession with the trivial is increasingly making the intelligent exercise of public life all but impossible.

Puttnam, 69, who is deputy chairman of Channel 4 and a former chief executive of Columbia Pictures, continued: "If David Cameron is remotely serious about wanting to herald in a new type of politics, he will have to do a lot better than inviting Rupert Murdoch to see him as one of the first acts of his premiership, and allowing him to enter number 10 by the back stairs.

"As the former cabinet minister John Biffen once memorably said: 'Whenever the prime minister of the day gets together in secret conclave with a powerful media owner, you can be very sure that democracy is not being well served'."

The Labour peer also pointed to former prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, saying they too were guilty of courting the press.

Stephen Abellof the PCC responded: "I have to say that I find Lord Puttnam's comments as odd as they are unhelpful. He has made two complaints to the PCC (including one recently), both of which were resolved to his express satisfaction.

"In a letter to the PCC, he said the following: 'I would also like to take the opportunity to say how very grateful I am for both the speed and quality of the service I received from the PCC. I had no reason to expect anything less, but I assure you it's very much appreciated.'"

Abell added: "His reported comments are also out of step with public opinion. Recent polling research showed that only 14% of a representative sample thought that the PCC was ineffective. Indeed 75% of those who expressed an opinion thought that the PCC was either effective or very effective.

"The PCC is interested, and effective, in protecting the legitimate privacy rights of individuals. Indeed only two weeks ago Baroness Buscombe argued successfully at the Oxford Union in support of the notion public figures do have a right to a private life. The PCC rigorously requires that newspapers and magazines must justify all reporting of the private lives of public figures on public interest grounds.

"The current independent review of the PCC's governance demonstrates our commitment to ongoing improvement. The review (which is shortly to publish its report) was initiated by Baroness Buscombe shortly after her appointment to 'make sure we have taken account of good practice elsewhere and wider public expectations'."

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